Thanks to our architectural word of the week series, I have learned about Flemish bond. In addition, I also discovered Common bond, or American bond, which is like English Garden Wall. This picture illustrates common bond, in that there are two rows of headers, spaced every 9th course, starting with the 3rd row from the bottom of the cross. If there were a larger photo of this section, it should show another course of headers 9 rows down, even though there is not one 9 rows above. These headers are also not centered over the other headers (as Acadia University brickwork indicates they should be) but slightly off-center. Is that a variation of style?
9 courses is a pretty large interval for header courses in common bond masonry, where the headers are the structural tie between brick wythes (parallel rows) that make up a masonry bearing wall. They generally occur at 7-course intervals, or closer. In masonry veneer walls of a single-brick-thickness tied to framing with metal ties, the “headers” are decorative half-brick vestiges of their structural precursors. You flatter the mason by suggesting that his irregular coursing is a stylistic variation.
I was hoping someone more knowledgeable about brick bonds would answer this question. I was going to say, if no one else offered an opinion, that I seem to have seen 5-course and 6-course common bond rather than 9. Good eye, Susan, and thanks for your informative answer, Tom!
Preservation in Mississippi 
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Thanks to our architectural word of the week series, I have learned about Flemish bond. In addition, I also discovered Common bond, or American bond, which is like English Garden Wall. This picture illustrates common bond, in that there are two rows of headers, spaced every 9th course, starting with the 3rd row from the bottom of the cross. If there were a larger photo of this section, it should show another course of headers 9 rows down, even though there is not one 9 rows above. These headers are also not centered over the other headers (as Acadia University brickwork indicates they should be) but slightly off-center. Is that a variation of style?
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9 courses is a pretty large interval for header courses in common bond masonry, where the headers are the structural tie between brick wythes (parallel rows) that make up a masonry bearing wall. They generally occur at 7-course intervals, or closer. In masonry veneer walls of a single-brick-thickness tied to framing with metal ties, the “headers” are decorative half-brick vestiges of their structural precursors. You flatter the mason by suggesting that his irregular coursing is a stylistic variation.
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I was hoping someone more knowledgeable about brick bonds would answer this question. I was going to say, if no one else offered an opinion, that I seem to have seen 5-course and 6-course common bond rather than 9. Good eye, Susan, and thanks for your informative answer, Tom!
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The reference I found merely indicated every nth course, with n being an odd number, usually 7.
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